Association of democratic doctors against the preparation of the health system for war
With last week decision during the NATO summit to move US long-range missiles to Germany, the risk of a renewed escalation and regional expansion of the war in Ukraine continues to rise. Military reactions have been announced by the Russian side.
The use of military means, including wars and invasions such as Russia’s in Ukraine, has been a catastrophic reality for decades and must be fought decisively. We are watching with great concern how, in recent years, preparations for war have apparently been made in Germany too, seemingly carelessly, and how this development is spreading to all sectors of society. On June 5, 2024, the German Defense Minister Pistorius stated: “We must be fit for war by 2029 … We must provide deterrence to prevent things from getting to the extreme.” (1). On the same day, the Federal Government of Germany adopted a new “Framework Directive for Overall Defense” (2) under the heading “Changed security situation in Europe: Federal Government strengthens Germany’s military and civil defense”, which sets out concrete requirements for preparing for a war. This replaces the framework directive from 1989.
The following is ordered: “Close cooperation must be carried out with the institutions responsible for the health care of the Bundeswehr [German Federal Armed Forces]. The participation of all actors in public health protection, e.g. also the health authorities, in the planning must be ensured. To this end, the statutory professional associations of doctors, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists and nursing professions, the associations of statutory health insurance physicians and dental practitioners, as well as the operators of health and nursing care facilities and their associations participate in the planning and needs assessment and support the authorities.” And: After approval by the federal government, the responsible state authorities can order that “health care facilities must adapt and fulfill the requirements in the event of defense and establish their operational readiness.” (2)
For the preparations in the health care system, the states should plan “supplementary measures for health care in the event of defense” according to the new framework directive. They determine the possibilities for using, expanding and replacing (e.g. temporary treatment facilities) the existing facilities and services as well as the expected personnel and material requirements. Possible CBRN hazards are also considered.” (2) CBRN refers to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards.
“Doctors and the health system as a whole will not be able to protect the population from radiological and nuclear dangers or treat the injuries caused by them with a few additional measures,” says Dr. Jürgen Seeger, co-chair of the Association of Democratic Doctors (vdää*). “As we can see in the current wars, the medical infrastructure is the preferred target of modern warfare. It is therefore to be expected that in a war with the direct involvement of the Federal Republic of Germany, the close integration of the military and the health system that is now being prepared will become a threat to medical care,” adds Jürgen Seeger.
Our task as democratic doctors will be educating people about the unavoidable and horrific health consequences of war in order to contain or prevent them. We do not want to participate in the illusion that a war with the direct involvement of the Federal Republic of Germany will be manageable or even “winnable” and that human damage can be kept to an acceptable level with the help of us doctors. By creating such an illusion and cynical calculation about the controllability of the health consequences, the federal government is preparing the ground for future wars. We also oppose the role assigned to us of being a cog in the military machine with the help of our medical expertise, of subjecting medical work to military logic and of only making soldiers ready for action again quickly and thus supporting their use for the continuation of a war.
We say NO to war preparation, to rearmament and the abuse of the health care system by the military! The only way to prevent suffering and death through war is to secure peace. We demand that everything be done to make the danger of war smaller, not greater. We do not believe in the currently pursued strategy of deterrence through military capability. It may sound naive to advocate for detente in the face of the fierce global competition between the major power blocs. However, just because an international countermovement to militarization is not yet developing it does not mean that we should accept violence and the law of the strongest without protest. This requires disarmament, demilitarization, international solidarity, networking and peace work at all social and political levels.
We call on all those working in the health care system: Do not allow yourselves to be instrumentalized in the preparation of a war in which we can only be losers. We stand in solidarity with employees, especially in the health care system, in all countries. We do not accept the friend-enemy logic and will continue to work towards international solidarity among all healthcare workers, especially those in countries that are potentially Germany’s enemies.
Only international solidarity will save us from the escalating and nationally or otherwise ideologically charged logic of war.
Dr. Nadja Rakowitz, 16th July 2024